can give you a hint…as medicaid & other plans are under federal attack insurers are building up their reserves in anticipation of healthcare providers jacking up prices to cover the growing number of uninsured turning up at hospitals for treatment, including injured kids & women in labor
Yup!
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Exposure: Tariffs - WTF https://www.keithalanhamilton.com?p=10821
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All these people horrified that it's $1k monthly. That's literally how much it costs in the U.S.! And that's likely just middle of the road coverage. I'm not saying it's right AT ALL but that's about what everyone pays one way or another (employer sponsored or government sponsored or no sponsor).
So you’d rather pay 7K CAD more on av. in income tax annually than pay 12K USD to some siloed health insurance company?😱 And your health insurance isn’t tied to your employment status? And your drugs are cheaper? And no one goes bankrupt? It didn’t happen all at once, but you’ve got to fight for it.
the system is utterly corrupt. im in my mid-forties and i feel like policies enacted when i was born have culminated in this moment. most days i have the energy to fight. today is tough.
Typically an employer offers a health plan at a discount to what it costs on the open market. The cost is automatically deducted from your pay. Although many (most?) employers in the U.S. don’t offer health insurance at all.
I have something similar here in Canada, but I think I pay about 10$ out of pocket for my plan, which includes dental and optometry, and I don't have a particularly good or well paying job. I knew it was bad, but I didn't realize it was THIS bad.
It’s terrible. Really, paying the monthly premium is just the beginning. You also have “out of pocket” expenses, copays, and “out of network” fees. You have to get everything pre-authorized, which they typically deny. You have to argue about everything. It’s so stressful!
Once the ACA said that employers had to provide health insurance to employees who worked more than 32 hours a week the number of 30 hour a week jobs really skyrocketed
Sorry for all the people that are going to come at you over $220. You know the ones that think if that as pocket change.
The way things are going that’ll be the 1st of more and regular increases of cost likely combined w/ less services/coverage.
I am a Healthcare worker at a small, rural, not-fir-profit hospital. I was so excited that the new tax laws gave me a $23 federal refund rather than the $1.5K i usually get! Oh to be rich enough to avoid taxes!
So sorry. I am probably gonna have to let go of it after a couple of months, unless I find a job that can pay for it. Have not been without my own insurance since 1996. Sigh.
but I'm not writing anything off in this country 🫠
by the end of this administration, i half expect having to perform living room surgery with nothing to help but a biting stick & a bottle of bourbon while a YouTube video called Doctor Explains Bullet Extraction plays
I can guess. In the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Biden put in subsidies to lower the cost of health insurance. My ACA premium went from $257 to $51. I thought I read that Trump was killing the IRA.
Are we great again? My parents paid a $1 copay. $1. Is their generation (the boomers) what was supposed to be great? Or was it the Grapes of Wrath which is where we're going. Can't remember. (j/k)
I had a discussion with a Maple MAGA on Reddit who said he'd rather have a healthcare system like the U.S. Once I explained it to him, I think he started to see that he really doesn't. He had no idea what we pay.
He had a buddy in the US who was in a union & had good insurance. But only 10% of Americans are in a union & they don't all have good insurance. He thought once you pay your premium, everything's covered. I told him my partner & I pay $900/mo & it doesn't cover shit! It's only good for emergencies.
That makes sooooo much sense.
Side note, a few years ago I was hospitalized for nearly complete organ failure & the ER intake nurse asked why I'd waited for a month of pain to come in. I told him I was waiting til insurance kicked in & he asked why.
I was like WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU IN?! ARE YOU NEW?!
Then he asked my husband if I was going through liver failure related psychosis because I was being a big ol meany to him (because my organs were failing & he was acting like America had accessible Healthcare & I was stupid for not seeing a doctor when it was financially unsafe to do so)
My experience with that opinion is people don't actually know the details of how the american system works, & they're frustrated with canadian wait times, wait lists, & inadequate resources. It doesn't help that so many canadians have dual citizenship & just go pay for a cat scan to jump the line.
It comes down to people with privilege thinking they deserve better or more than others for one reason for another.
They don't think about the crippling medical debt people take on, or the fact it disenfranchises people without means, or the cost of insurance, or having to pay a deductible
Numbers are current Obama care. My health insurance, not to be confused with actual healthcare, would be $1,700 a month.
All so I can get asthma meds for the real price of $4, like they sell off the shelf in Mexico, instead of $450 that pharma wants without the insurance.
Over 1k??? My only insurance is for accidents, like broken hands, since I'm a seamstress and even that cost like 100€/ year.
And going to the hospital for non accidents or dentists, I don't need insurance 🫡
Sorry, wait a minute.
I knew it was bad, and that my country's system is different to the USA, but that's a MONTHLY fee?! $1k a month for health insurance?!
Yep 🫠🫠🫠 it’s also very common for your prescriptions to change price month to month. There’s no warning, you just find out at the pharmacy. Last month it was $39. This month it’s $152! Can’t afford it? Not our problem. It’s great here.
I just don't get it. 😱 I am so sorry.
I fell off a ladder and injured myself just last week. ER visit, x-ray, pain meds and a physio appointment, and I'm zero out of pocket.
Seriously, if you can, get out. The rest of the world is better...
hum... what?! I swear the US does not seem real sometimes. In Portugal I pay 0€ for the public option. I have private insurance too through my employer, but even if I didn't it would only cost 30€ monthly
Yup. You also have the copay, deductible, etc. on top of that monthly cost. It resets every Jan so you have to meet the deductible again each year. Dental and vision costs are usually separate so you have those fees too. Pharmacy is its own hell. People go bankrupt over medical.
I am sure that corporate America will feel emboldened to raise prices however they want. After all, accountability has been cancelled by the Trump government. There is no recourse.
I would expect more increase as a result of tarrifs. Just as global warming is increasing the cost of home owner insurance and those costs are being passed on to all customers, the tariffs will increase the cost of healthcare which will be passed on from the insurance companies to consumers.
Taxation or private, we all pay for it. The UK spends less on healthcare than the US because it has a public health system that is funded through taxation and is mostly free at the point of use, while in the US, private insurance is more common, and access to public healthcare is income-dependent.
US is still extortionate though. Our National Insurance is only a small amount deducted at source, and even those people who choose to take out PMI to speed up the process pay only around £50 - £100 a month depending on age. US system is horrifically expensive.
My late Mother and my ex husband were also born in the USSR and Communism is definitely NOT the same as a proper, decent democratic society that cares about people and has good welfare provisions.
That's fucking heartbreaking I'm so sorry our broken health care system forces you through that. There is no reason in hell that that should be acceptable.
You're right, I've been lucky in my life to not have chronic illnesses, just big acute ones. And I'm not saying this is feasible for everyone, because it 100% isn't.
The medication my husband has been taking suddenly went up from $2 a month to $15 a month. Insurance companies keep shuffling their drug tiers, usually the copayments go up.
That used to be a mortgage payment now it’s a car payment…but still ridiculous…makes no sense and if you don’t use it you get nothing but the chance to do it over again for the next year…straight rip off!
I'm sorry, you sued to pay $910 A MONTH for health insurance?!? And they STILL refuse to cover like 90% of the shit you need when you have an emergency?!?
I'm honestly shocked most Americans aren't rioting in the streets.
For reference, in my EU country your employer pays 8% of your monthly income for insurance (this is accounted for when negotiating salary, you settle on the net after that). If you're self-employed, you pay between 40 and 150 euro a month. The 150 is if you're making HUGE profits as company owner.
Sadly this is not true in all German countries. Over here in Germany I am still paying 350 monthly on my insurance and I am the LOWEST income class (making barely 12 000 a year). And yes, I have to pay it myself, because I am in university again.
This government insurance doesn't cover some really advanced stuff, nor most pills, but it does cover everything else. I'm currently battling cancer, and it has covered my surgery, hospital stay, most exams, my PET scan, and my chemo. I also got 80% of my monthly salary as sick pay on top of that.
Comments
Steps to a real DEMOCRACY
Exposure + Motivation + Coalition building + Revolution
Exposure: Tariffs - WTF https://www.keithalanhamilton.com?p=10821
tap/click image to read
I merely said that insurance premiums under the CURRENT system would be lower with fewer mandates and higher co-pays and deductibles. Which is true.
But the current system is an unmitigated disaster. It needs to be completely redesigned from scratch.
The way things are going that’ll be the 1st of more and regular increases of cost likely combined w/ less services/coverage.
Whiskey
but I'm not writing anything off in this country 🫠
by the end of this administration, i half expect having to perform living room surgery with nothing to help but a biting stick & a bottle of bourbon while a YouTube video called Doctor Explains Bullet Extraction plays
Health care system in this country is fucking ridiculous. No other first world nation allows this to happen.
You don't have to run your prescriptions through insurance.
Move to Canada. My health insurance cost me zero dollars.
Stories like these solidify my appreciation for our single payer system. It's not perfect, but I prefer it over the alternative
That's a car payment...
Side note, a few years ago I was hospitalized for nearly complete organ failure & the ER intake nurse asked why I'd waited for a month of pain to come in. I told him I was waiting til insurance kicked in & he asked why.
I was like WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU IN?! ARE YOU NEW?!
Some think having a good income or benefits through work should allow them to pay to get priority.
Some complain about ER waits here or wait times for specialists.
Some people are unhappy paying for stuff others use.
They don't think about the crippling medical debt people take on, or the fact it disenfranchises people without means, or the cost of insurance, or having to pay a deductible
All so I can get asthma meds for the real price of $4, like they sell off the shelf in Mexico, instead of $450 that pharma wants without the insurance.
Total scam on Americans.
And going to the hospital for non accidents or dentists, I don't need insurance 🫡
1. The Democrats, who told us that we can have "free" health care without cutting other spending programs or blowing up the debt.
2. The Republicans, who told us that we can have massive tax cuts without cutting the military or blowing up the debt.
I knew it was bad, and that my country's system is different to the USA, but that's a MONTHLY fee?! $1k a month for health insurance?!
The 2nd Revolution HAS to be reaching boiling point, surely...
I fell off a ladder and injured myself just last week. ER visit, x-ray, pain meds and a physio appointment, and I'm zero out of pocket.
Seriously, if you can, get out. The rest of the world is better...
You should be able to request a statement reflecting why your premiums increased.
Especially if that account gets compounded monthly.
I get the risks but we can't let them continue to rob us for health care.
Plus I'm not a eugenicsist libertarian.
Greed has no place in health care.
I just want to hurt them like they hurt us.
I'm honestly shocked most Americans aren't rioting in the streets.
I pay €185 including dentist.
Monthly
Has it ever really been any other 'reason?' ☹️
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3lm2ncsoues24
"'MERICA! FUCK YOU! PAY UP!"